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Comments (5)
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Save/ShareWhat is your best money-saving, time-crunching, fun-optimizing vacation strategy?
If there's one thing that sets Budget Travel apart from its peers, it's you—our readers have provided some of the most thoughtful, savvy travel tips this magazine has published in its 12-year span.
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This week, we're on the hunt again for some fresh new travel tips to feature in an upcoming issue. But this time, we're raising the bar a bit higher to seek out the most original, unusual ideas.
To give you an idea of what that means, here below are the top 10 most popular tips submitted to us by readers:
1. Pack a Ziploc bag for any and all purposes.
2. Bring a nightlight so you don't stub your toe in dark, unfamiliar hotel rooms.
3. Pack old clothes so you can throw them away on vacation and fill the newly empty space in your suitcase with souvenirs.
4. Keep a scanned electronic copy of your passport and other important documents on an e-reader, laptop, or smartphone.
5. Print and bring along a chart to remind you of foreign exchange rate.
6. Split your family's clothing evenly between multiple suitcases—if one bag gets lost, someone isn't left completely without clothes.
7. Bring an empty water bottle through airport security and refill at a water fountain.
8. A steamy shower works just as well as ironing.
9. Don't forget to bring along a roll of quarters for tolls and parking meters.
10. Always take a picture of your rental car before you leave the lot to record any pre-existing damage.
These are fantastic ideas, all, but now we're looking for even fresher concepts, and we'd love to hear from you!
Email your best money-saving, time-crunching, fun-optimizing vacation strategies to tips@budgettravel.com.
Be sure to include name and address—you want credit for your genius, don't you?!
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If you haven't bought a seat for your under two year old, try to book your trip on non-busy days so there are extra seats available. We went to Maui(Toronto to Dallas and then Dallas to Maui) on a Monday and came back on a Thursday. We were able to bring the car seat on to the plane on each leg of the trip and saved $850 in the process by not buying the baby a seat.
Posted By Patricia on November 24, 2010, 11:30 AM
Send yourself a postcard when you travel. It is the least expensive souvenir, and a great reminder of your trip.
Posted By Carol-Anne Ryce-Paul on November 24, 2010, 9:42 PM
Get some of those compressible bags - that you squeeze/roll the air out of (not the vacuum ones). I only had a backpack for a 3 week trip in Cambodia and Vietnam and was able to bring 3 custom made winter coats home in my backpack, plus all of my other stuff. If you find yourself in Japan, you can get the bags in all sizes at the 100 yen store for...only 100 yen!
Posted By someone on November 25, 2010, 8:38 AM
When looking for low airfares, always look at alternate airports. For instance, I live near New York JFK, but I look for airfares out of Newark, NJ or even Islip, New York. Sometimes it even pays for me to drive or take the train to another city to get better airfares.
Posted By Steve At TravelingProfessor.com on November 28, 2010, 12:21 PM
We always travel with an empty spray bottle in our checked bag. At our destination, we choose the clothing we will be wearing the following day and spritz them with the water filled spray bottle, smoothing the damp fabric as we spray. Hang them up in the closet, and your clothes will be dry and look great the next day. This is especially helpful when cruising. When repacking, just empty the water from the spray bottle and you're ready to go. The spray bottle can also be used to refresh your face and body on hot days at the beach.
Posted By moondoggie on December 20, 2010, 6:38 AM